Business Groups Launch Coalition to Support EU-U.S. Trade
The proposed EU-U.S. trade agreement was called alternately a hard sell, a game changer, an agreement among equals and a challenge at the Capitol Hill rollout of the Business Coalition for Transatlantic Trade April 10. The group was recently created in support of the EU-U.S. agreement, officially known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, and consists of major businesses like FedEx and Ford plus business groups like the National Foreign Trade Council.
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Acting U.S. Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis said his office is in “intensive consultations with Congress” over what U.S. trade objectives should be in the negotiation, but cited the possibility for the agreement to “address thorny issues that we haven’t been able to address.” That could include topics like agriculture, as well as new issues like state-owned enterprises and forced localization. The U.S. formally began trade negotiations with the EU in March (see 13032105).
House Trade Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., said the pact should “take care of non-tariff barriers to trade. The agreement is also a chance for the U.S. and Europe to increase their leverage and influence in a “very demanding, very unpredictable world,” said João Vale de Almeida, EU’s ambassador to the U.S. Most of the speakers in the event cautioned that the negotiations would be very tough, and asked for sustained support and patience. “Trade agreements never keep their time table,” said Trade Subcommittee Ranking Member Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y. Spectators shouldn’t predict the month or day an agreement will happen, he said, “except that it will happen.” -- Jessica Arriens